G-sharp minor

G♯ minor

Relative key	B major
Parallel key	G♯ major enharmonic: A♭ major
Dominant key	D♯ minor enharmonic: E♭ minor
Subdominant	C♯ minor
Component pitches
G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯

G-sharp natural minor scale ascending and descending.  Play  G-sharp harmonic minor scale ascending and descending.  Play  G-sharp melodic minor scale ascending and descending.  Play

G-sharp minor is a minor scale based on G♯, consisting of the pitches G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, E, and F♯. For the harmonic minor, the F♯ is raised to F. Its key signature has five sharps.

Its relative major is B major, and its parallel major is G-sharp major, usually replaced by A-flat major, its enharmonic equivalent, since G-sharp major, which would contain a double-sharp in the key signature, is rarely used for practical composing and arranging, with a similar problem to that of A-flat minor. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

The main theme of the Academy Award-winning score for the film Gravity, as well as the songs "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz, "New York" by Paloma Faith, "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga, "Timber" by Pitbull featuring Kesha, "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne and "Problem" by Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea were in the key of G-sharp minor.^[1][2]

Few symphonies are written in G♯ minor; among them are Nikolai Myaskovsky's 17th Symphony, Dimitrie Cuclin's 11th Symphony, Christopher Schlegel's 5th Symphony, and an abandoned work of juvenilia by Marc Blitzstein.

Despite the key rarely being used in orchestral music other than to modulate, it is not entirely uncommon in keyboard music, as in the sonatas of Alexander Scriabin. For orchestration of piano music, some theorists recommend transposing the music to G minor or A minor. If G-sharp minor is used, composers generally write B-flat wind instruments in the enharmonic B-flat minor, rather than A-sharp minor to facilitate reading the music.

In a few scores, the sharp A in the bass clef is written on the top line.

References

Notes

Sources

• A. Morris, "Symphonies, Numbers and Keys" in Bob's Poetry Magazine, III.3, 2006.

External links

• Media related to G-sharp minor at Wikimedia Commons

Diatonic scales and keys
	Flats Sharps Major minor Major minor 0 C a C a 1 F d G e 2 B♭ g D b 3 E♭ c A f♯ 4 A♭ f E c♯ 5 D♭ b♭ B g♯ 6 G♭ e♭ F♯ d♯ 7 C♭ a♭ C♯ a♯ 8 F♭ d♭ G♯ e♯
The table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale. Minor scales are written in lower case.